Red & BBs retirement home......

[British Red]

Okay, a few updates today - but do shout when this gets boring!

The fruit tree blossoms are really coming on. I am really worried about the apricots - the blossom is beautiful but we are predicted frost next week. I'm right on the edge of where they can fruit...cross your fingers for us!


Apricot Blossom by British Red, on Flickr

The ear are about to pop ..but should be more reisistant to slight frosts


Pear in blossom by British Red, on Flickr

The hedge trees are beautiful - less of an issue there


Blossom by British Red, on Flickr

This little were a single straggly volunteer two years back. They are in the wrong place but we leave them as they seem happy - "life will find a way"


Tulips by British Red, on Flickr

The garden is becoming more productive now. We plan a fruit cage to the left of the raised beds you can see here - between the rock and the flower bed


View of garden by British Red, on Flickr

More later

Red

 

[British Red]

Nice to see the seeds and propogation coming on well - our first year having the greenhouses "ready to go" ...it does make a difference

Lots of Calendula for companion planting


Calendula by British Red, on Flickr

One of this years "experimental" crops is sugar beet. Can we produce our own Sugar syrup....or even crystalised sugar? Time will tell.


Sugar Beet by British Red, on Flickr

We are succession planting the spring onions this year. Last years were great...but all came together


Spring Onion by British Red, on Flickr

This is one of last years...getting ready to be saved for seed


Salad onion seed head by British Red, on Flickr

Sunflowers are mainly for show, insects and birds. But this is an edible sort


Sunflowers by British Red, on Flickr

A few root stocks of soapwort kindly sent to me have filled a pot. Time to find a nice spot to plant some out now!


Soapwort by British Red, on Flickr

Another kind local gave us all their strawberry runners last year. They were potted up and over wintered in the greenhouses. We thought we might have lost some but they have come right back


Strawberries by British Red, on Flickr

BB has planted up what I hope will be a great strawberry bed this year. Only 100 square feet - but its a start!


Strawberry bed by British Red, on Flickr

Red

 

[British Red]

Well now - it was time to sort the compost today

We run 7 of 330 litre compost "daleks" ...I intend to build some timber frames for the rest as we anticipated 2,500 litres would be enough. It isn't.

This is how they look - you can see a pile of rotted stuff on the left at the back


Raw compost material by British Red, on Flickr

We use it in two ways - either direct on the beds or reduced to a fine tilth as potting compost

If reducing it to a tilth I just fork it into a barrow and spread it in the working area


Pitching out the compost by British Red, on Flickr

Then I rotovate it into a fine tilth


Rotovated flat by British Red, on Flickr

Finally it gets shovelled into a pile ready for use


Ready to use compost pile by British Red, on Flickr

The alternative is just to tip the stuff onto beds


Compost piled on bed by British Red, on Flickr

and turn it in


Composted bed by British Red, on Flickr

Its been so dry that we have even had to pump some of the stored rainwater up onton the beds


Hoses joined back to the pump by British Red, on Flickr

Generally I find "pin *****" irrigation hoses work best - you can arrange them so that all the water goes where you need it


Trickle hose by British Red, on Flickr

Red

 

[British Red]

Oh yup, when I lifted the tops off two of the composters...look who had been overwintering there


Bank Vole emerging from compost by British Red, on Flickr


Bank Vole by British Red, on Flickr

We do like to encourage the voles...because they encourage the owls

 

[Mesquite]

Okay, a few updates today - but do shout when this gets boring!

It will never get boring for me Hugh... this is one of my favourite threads on the forum

 

[British Red]

Kind of you to say so Steve. You can await laughs at my capernterbodgery as I try to make a walk in fruit cage!

 

[Dougster]

That's looking great Hugh - I hope you have cold weather contingencies for this coming week.

 

[roger-uk]

I love this thread and i so admire you for living your dream.

 

[Wilderbeast]

Looking fantastic as ever Hugh, your hard work has created such an idillic setting!

 

[santaman2000]

Looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[RonW]

Boring??
You mad???

I love this thread! This one makes me daydream as much as those great outdoor-canoe-overnighter-campfire-hunting-spotting wildlife-threads....

Ok, I overdid it a little, but you get the point, right?

 

[Corfe]

Just found this thread, and read it right through - brilliant stuff - keep updating!

 

[bradleybuckman]

Wow, what an amazing thread. I've really enjoyed watching your journey as you've developed your homestead and have learned several things in the process. Makes me wish that I had paid much closer attention and had a better attitude when I was growing up and my father was trying to teach me many of these things. How long is your guys growing season there?

 

[British Red]

We are lucky bb. Cool summers (rarely above 85F) mild winters (not much snow - temps as low as 0F but not for long). I set seed in March under glass and direct sow outdoors from...now. Still harvesting in Late October / early November.

Red

 

[bradleybuckman]

The winters are pretty much the same here, but our summers are considerably warmer and humid. Our growing season is very much the same time frame as yours. I'll certainly have to check the thread to see your updates. You have a beautiful home and homestead there.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

I would love to see more. Thats a nice looking paddock. Look forward to the British Red summer garden party meet

Edit: My brain must be having a day off. i only saw the initial pictures and didnt pick up on the date

 

[sandbender]

"...but do shout when this gets boring!..."

No, never boring, one of the best threads here.

I am guessing that to help you put all this together you must have amassed a sizeable library over the years. Would you post a list of recommended books?

 

[British Red]

Wow, err, yeah I could do...there are a few seminal works and a lot of "specialist in a narrow field" stuff. There are some great books certainly. I can do perhaps a sort of "Desert Island Discs" thing if you like - what 10 books would I take...

Is it mostly the small holding side that interests you or the whole shebang (including odd stuff like soap making, vinegar making etc. )?

Red

 

[sandbender]

"...Is it mostly the small holding side that interests you or the whole shebang (including odd stuff like soap making, vinegar making etc..."

Well yes the whole shebang would be fantastic, a lot of typing though and it wouldn't fit in with this thread, so yes your ten books on small holding that you would take to a desert island. I think a few people here would appreciate that.

Thanks.

 

[British Red]

No problems mate - I'll try and put something together for you - nudge me in a week or so when I forget